Definitely see someone. Some CBT should be quite helpful for you.

Anonymous wrote:DH does this all the time. He has also left the keys in the front door all night long and several times left the door ajar.

+1 My DH does this on a regular basis, leaving the keys in the door. Drives me nuts. Now I try to remember to check the front door before I go to bed. We're just lucky we live in a safe neighborhood.

As another highly anxious person, fully medicated, I'd say that you should see someone about this. It is good that you know these aren't rational thoughts, but the fact that they're plaguing you with "but what IF it happened, because it's possible" is cause enough for concern. Not because it means you're nuts, but that stuff like this is probably making life tougher than it should be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should see a therapist.

This.

A LOT of people on this board needs to see a therapist!!!

FWIW, i have left the door unlocked, open, keys in the door...heck one time I left my keys on TOP of my SUV overnight. It happens.

We're not telling her she needs therapy because she forgot to lock the door, we're telling her she needs therapy because she's paranoid about what might have happened when she did instead of just saying, "Phew, my purse is still here, everything's OK!" like a person would who is not crippled by anxiety.

When I read this post I had to call my DH into the room to see if it was him. And even he agrees that it sounds EXACTLY like him. He has OCD but had a year of cognitive behavior therapy and so thoughts like this are rare these days and he can talk himself down. Definitely look into CBT!

People, telling OP that you also leave the door open is not going to help her if she thinks someone may have sprayed toxic chemicals on her belongings. You should see a therapist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should see a therapist.

This.

A LOT of people on this board needs to see a therapist!!!

FWIW, i have left the door unlocked, open, keys in the door...heck one time I left my keys on TOP of my SUV overnight. It happens.

Since an attack, I've always been overly anxious about home security. I was so proud of myself for spending the night in a house by myself with minimal anxiety. I realized the next morning that is left the keys hanging in the front door.

*facepalm*

Anonymous wrote:You should see a therapist.

This.

You should see a therapist.

DH does this all the time. He has also left the keys in the front door all night long and several times left the door ajar.

As long as you know these aren't rational thoughts, that is good. There's a big difference between believing it and thinking it, but knowing it's irrational. However, if you are really worried about it, then by all means, see a therapist/psychologist/lcsw. signed-a person with pretty bad generalized anxiety disorder.

Since this is anonymous, I can say that I've done that multiple times, once for days when we were away.

If it makes you feel better, DH left the front door wide-open all day while we were both at work. Twice.

Went for a 45 minute walk with the kids and came home to realize I forgot to lock the front door. Nothing was taken--my purse was right by the front door, computer was still on my desk, TV on the TV stand. I know intellectually that this means that no one came into my house while I was gone. If they had, why wouldn't they have taken anything? But I think I may have some generalized anxiety disorder, because now all I can think is that someone WAS in my house, that they didn't want to take anything, but that they poisoned our food, or sprayed some kind of toxic substance all over my house and my kids toys, and so on and so on. I know this sounds crazy, but I am obsessing over this. I think I need to see someone over my anxiety--these are among the craziest thoughts I've ever had. Should I see a therapist? A psychiatrist? These thoughts are a reality check for me--I know I have a problem. My husband knows I struggle with these kids of "weird" thoughts, but I'm really reluctant to discuss these particular ones with him. I guess I just needed to get this down. Thanks for reading.